Product description

Combining the latest scholarship with a highly readable style, Kathryn Tempest looks at Cicero the politician and orator, and the private man. On the back of his natural talent for oratory, Cicero set out on the path to a glorious reputation - his earliest speeches brought the name of Cicero out of the shadows and hurled him into the spotlight. Cicero was the first 'new man' in thirty years to reach the consulship; the fact that he managed to do so without bribery or violence makes his success even more remarkable. His year of office witnessed events of such a scale that he was granted the extraordinary honour of the title 'pater patriae' - he was the father of his fatherland. Following the Civil War, and with renewed hopes for the restoration of the Roman Republic, Cicero launched a fierce attack on Mark Antony by delivering a series of speeches that cannot be matched for their vigour. It was these speeches that would be the cause of Cicero's death, and his death was to be as dramatic as his life. Kathryn Tempest's life of Cicero and his times is as engaging as it is informative.

Author information

Dr Kathryn Tempest is senior lecturer in Latin literature and Roman history at Roehampton University. Her research interests focus on ancient oratory especially Cicero and the Attic orators.

Review quote

'The picture of the cut and thrust of Roman politics is as beguiling as the man, and Tempest does an admirable job in bringing the orator's orator to life.' --Sanford Lakoff

Table of contents

Prologue: A Master of Words and a Patriot; 1. The Senate and the People of Rome; 2. The Making of the Man; 3. Climbing the Ladder of Offices; 4. Cicero on the Attack; 5. The New Man at Rome; 6. Cicero's Bid for the Consulship; 7. A Consulship and a Conspiracy; 8. High Hopes and Shattered Dreams; 9. Enemies, Exile and Return; 10. Cicero and the Triumvirs; 11. Clodius, Cicero and Milo; 12. Away from Rome: Cilicia; 13. Away from Rome Again: Civil War; 14. Cicero and Caesar; 15. The Tyranny of Antony; 16. The Last Fight for Liberty; Epilogue: The Head and the Hands of Cicero.